I am finding that many of these watchdog sites are basing a lot of their information on what goes on during a Sunday morning service.  Posts like this one from Christian Research Network show that these men and women judge a church primarily by what happens from 8am – 1pm on Sundays.

Most of us know that a church is not a Sunday morning service.  But for some reason, that magic hour on Sunday has become the most pivotal for many people.  For those of us who are actively participating in a local body, we know that the Sunday morning experience is a very small part to what “church” is.  In fact, for those of us serving, we know that most “ministry” usually takes place outside of the large group corporate setting.

Because of this, I believe that it is ok for a Sunday morning service to be seeker sensitive or geared towards evangelism when the church is healthy as a whole.  Healthy churches have deep and impacting relational dynamics that take hold within their communities.  What is rarely looked at by these watchdog blogs are the small groups, discipleship classes and community that happens apart from what is described on a website or in a pastor’s book.

At Mosaic, our gatherings are designed to appeal to everyone in any walk of life.  The believer can come and receive something as well as the non-believing, homosexual post moderns who attend the gatherings on Sunday nights in the Mayan Nightclub in Downtown Los Angeles.  Looking at just that, one might see our community as shallow and unhealthy.  However, we have tons of small groups that meet literally all over Southern California and “disciple” people in the word of God.  And, we actively get people into these groups.  In fact, in order to be on our volunteer staff (our version of membership), you must be in a small group!

Tonight I will be going to a small group where we have been going verse by verse through James.  Next month we are starting in on Ecclesiastes.  We have seen three people come to Christ here and are being “fed.”  These are not just “hang-out” groups, but a place to learn, grow and experience biblical community.

I think this is my biggest problem with most of the criticism I have seen from those attacking PD ministries, seeker-sensitive, postmodern ministries.  In order to attack a church you must look at the WHOLE, not just what takes place on Sunday.  In order to understand the dynamics of a family you must live with them and experience what happens on a day to day basis, nit just sit outside with binoculars.  And yes, there are a few out there who are unhealthy, but that can be said for any church “group”.

Don’t get me wrong, Sundays are an important part of what we do, and we are not to forsake the gathering of ourselves together.  But the church is much more than a few hours on one day of the week.

More thoughts, I would love to hear them….